Hopper



NOV.. 2, 1954 J. R. sENsIBAR 2,693,282

HOPPERv Filed July 24, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet l Nov. 2, 1954 J. R. sr-:NslBAR HOPPER 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 24, 1951 ...MKM/R MHK 12"@ C0 Z 152527555@ Z M d@ ,Ji

Nov. 2, 1954 J. R. sENslBAR HOPPER 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 24, 1951 Nov. 2, 1954 J. R. sENslBAR HOPPER 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed July 24, 1951 hereinafter.`

United States PatentjO l 2,693,282 Patented Nov. 2, 1954 and the surrounding side walls of each hopper element be disposed at angles from the horizontal which are at least slightly greater than the angle of repose of the wet, free flowing material to be emptied from the hopper to assure even, rapid movement of the free flowing ICC material in the hopper.

This invention relates to apparatus for handling free owing material and more particularly to apparatus for unloading sand or sand and gravel from a ship.

In recent years the establishment of stock piles of sand or other free flowing material and land reclamation has become increasingly important. An ei'licient and economical methodof accomplishing this has been to suck sand or other free flowing material from the bottom of a body of water -into hoppers of a ship, dewater this sand and transport it to a landing berth where pipe lines on shore are connected to the ship. Water is then added to the sand in the hoppers and the desired proportion of sand and water mixture is pumped from te ship to the desired area through the pipe lines on s ore.

In hydraulically unloading sand from a ships hoppers, it is necessary that they be emptied rapidly and completely without permitting the ship to list substantially due to continual shifting of the water inthe hoppers as the sand and water mixture is being discharged from the ship. In the past, a substantial quantity of the sand remained in the hopper after hydraulic unloading.

This invention provides apparatus for unloading a ship which accomplishes all of the desired'features enumerated above as well as others which will appear more fully By the use of this invention, substantially all of the sand or other free owing material contained in the hopper of a ship may be rapidly unloaded in the form of a free flowing material and water mixture which can be transported through pipes great distances inland where it can be stock piled or deposited to build up and reclaim areas of land. The term free owing material is meant to include earth, mud, sand, gravel, coal and the like or mixtures of these materials.

The invention will be described with reference to preferred embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a fragmentary plane view of a hopper located in the aft portion of a ship;

Figure 2 is a vertical section along line 2--2 of Figure l;

Fi1gure'3 is a vertical section along line 3-3 of Figure Filgure 4 is a vertical section along line 4-'4 of Figure l Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional View of the' mixing well located in the central portion of Figure l;

Figure 6 is a vertical section of the mixing well taken along line 6 6 of Figure 5; and

Figure 7 is a fragmentary sectional View taken along line 7 7 of Figure 6.

The particular ship illustrated in Figures 1-4 has a hull 10 constructed in accordance with the usual marine practice. Mounted in this hull are a series of bins or hoppers adapted to receiveand retain'sand or other free owing material which is sucked up from the bottom of the sea. These hoppers are centrally located with respect to the longitudinal center line of the ship and are supported by a frame work system within the hull which is not shown in the drawings as it is not a part of this invention and would only serve to complicate the drawings.

The particular hopper 11 shown in the drawing and embodying this invention has four side walls 12a, 12b, and 12e, and 12d, the lower portions of which taper inwardly toward the floor or bottom of the hopper as indicated by 13. Eight-adjoining hopper elements occupy substantially the entire bottom of the hopper. Each-element is composed of a bottom, as 14a, surrounded by side walls, as 15a, which slope downwardly toward the bottom. It is preferredthat the tapered portions of the hopper walls In the particular embodiment shown, each hopper element bottom, as 14a, is a standard hinged, dump gate or door adapted to be opened `to the sea through the bottom of the ship to enable rapid unloading by dumping of the material in the hopper into the sea without substantial listing of the ship when it is desired to unload the material through the bottom of the hull. Each gate has a rod, as 14b, extending in an upwardly direction. The bottom end of this rod is hingedly connected to the gate and the upper portion may be connected to a lever arm or other actuating mechanism not shown in the drawings for moving the rod up or down thereby closing or opening the gate to the sea. It is to be noted that when the gates are in a closed position they substantially seal the bottoms from the sea.

nectingduct, as 19a, open at the top,

. ments.

As shown in Fig. 1, each quadrant of the hopper bottom contains a pair of hopper elements, a feeding element, as 16a, located substantially adjacent the center of the hopper bottom and a remote element, as 17a, adjacent to and directly-behind the feeding element 16a. Each pair of these elements adjoins the ypairs in the two bordering quadrants. It is to be noted that in this particular embodiment (Fig, 2) the side walls of adjacent hopper elements form an inverted V and are secured together, as by welding, along their lines of intersection. In addition, the bottom portion of the tapered hopper walls form two surrounding side walls of each remote element and one of the surrounding side walls of each feeding element.

,When hydraulically unloading free owing material, such as Isand, from the hopper, a water carrier is employed to move the sand from the hopper into the mixing well 18 through a series of openings 21a, 2lb, 21C, 21d, 21e and 21]c in the wall of the well compartment. This well is locatedV substantially in the center of the bottom of the hopper and among other things serves to condition the sand for discharge from the ship. VA series of connecting ducts 19a, 19b, 19C, and 19d and feeding ducts 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d aid in conducting the sand and water carrier mix .to the well openings. A separate conj cuts through the adjacentk sloping side walls of `each pair of elements in each quadrant connecting the bottom portions of the remote element, as 17a, and the feeding element, as 16a and is substantially aligned with the bottoms of the ele- A separate feeding duct, as 20a, substantially aligned with the bottoms of the hopper elements and of the same construction as the connecting ducts leads from the bottom portion of each of the four feeding elements to one of the compartment openings 21a, 2lb, 21C, or 21d 1n alignment with it. While the ducts shown are kopen at the top and in effect are trough-like, pipes or other connecting passages may be substituted.

The particular means used in this invention for furnishing the water carrier and moving the water carrierv 18 from the hopper is a the hopper from valve 22d, each located slightly above the bottom of each remote element in alignment with a connecting duct. The nozzles are directed downwardly so that water jetting therefrom impinges on the bottoms of the remote hopper elements and also jets into the connecting ducts. Water is thereby added to the sand as a carrier and the resulting sand and water mix is moved by the jets from the remote hopper elements through the connecting ducts to the feeding elements and from there through the feeding ducts into the mixing Well 18. As a further aid in moving the sand inthe hopper into the well 18, two additional valve controlled water jet nozzles 24a vand 24b are mounted vabove the vhopper in centrally located positions with respect to the top of the hopper.4 Manually operated, they are so adapted as to direct a stream of water into the hopper from above and can be rotated horizontally through 360 and vertically through 180 iii a downwardly direction. To furnish water to the above jetting nozzles, pipe 23 is connected to each nozzle and leads to a water pump source not shown in the drawings.

in order to discharge a sand and Water mixture from the ship and into pipe lines, it is preferred that the mix so discharged be of certain proportions to enable eihcient pumping and handling. In addition, this should be done quickly and eiciently Without any substantial listing of the ship as the sand is emptied from the hopper. As an aid in satisfying these conditions, a mixing well 18 may be provided'. ln the particular embodiment, best shown in Figs. 1 and 5,-7, it is located substantially in the center of the bottom of the hopper, serving among other things as the meansfor properly conditioningthe sand and water mix fiowing from the hopper for discharge. It is made up of a compartment 25 having a cylindrically shaped wall extending from slightlyy above the bottom of the ship through the bottom portion ofy the hopper to the top of the hopper. The valve controlled flood pipe. 26 extends into the well, opening thereto at a point above the bottom of the hopper. The other endlead's toari opening in the side of the ship below4 the'water line notv shown in this drawing. This pipe serves as a means for supplying added water by gravity iiow to the wet sand flowing into the well to properly condition it for discharge from the well.

A series of openings 21a, 2lb, 21C, 21d, 21ey and 21'f in the compartment of the Well are provided at diierent heights and are controlled by self-seating, sliding doors, asy 32a. See Fig. 6. As shown in the Figs. 1 and 6` the latter two openings are located at vertically spaced intervals from each other above the hopper bottom. The four lower openings are aligned with thefeeding ducts 20a, 2017, 20c and 20a' respectively. v v v In hydraulically unloading sand or other free flow-y ing material from the hopper, a mixture of sand and water. carrier is moved towards the mixing Well by the jetting action of the water from the above mentioned jet nozzles and aided by gravity iiow. This is discharged into the mixing well through the openings 21a; 2lb, 21C, 21d, 21e and 21]c in the compartment where it is conditioned for discharge by adding controlled and measured amounts of ooding water from the ood pipe- 26. The desired mixture is then sucked up through the suction pipe 2S connected to the discharge pump 30 and from this pump delivered to pipes on the shore which are not shown in the drawing. j y

The foregoing. detailed description is given for. clearness of understanding only andno unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, as modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.v

1. ln a sand carrying ship, a hopper having a bottom comprising a plurality of adjoining, free ilowng material collecting hopper elements occupying substantially the entire bottom of the hopper, each element having `surrounding side walls sloping. toward the-bottom of the hopper element; connecting ducts cuttingth'rough certain adjacent side walls of adjoiningl hopper elements to provide a p athy substantially aligned` withv the..bottoms of the hopper elements for conducting a4 mix ot'water and free owing material between the hopper` elements; a mixing well for receiving the mix from the. elements and conditioning it for discharge; feeding ducts leading from certainhopper elements to the mixing well for conducting the mix in the elements into the mixing well; water jetting means directed along thel lower portion of certain hopper elements for supplying water to the freeflowing material in the hopper and moving` the mix with the aid of gravity flow from the hopper elements into. themixinggwell throughthe connecting and feeding ducts:

2. In asandcarrying ship, azhopperhavingia'bottom` comprising at least four pairs of adjoining,.free .flowing material. collecting lhopper elements `occupying substantiallythe'. entire bottom of the. hopper, eachpair of elements having a separate connecting duct cutting through adjacent, slopingv side walls. betweenI the two elementstoprovide a path substantially aligned with` the bottoms of thehopper elements for conducting a mix of waterv and free tlowingmaterial between the twoelements ofv each pairg amixing we1l.forA receiving thefmixffrom'the hopper elementsand conditioning it-fordischargeiia separate feeding duct for each pair of hopper elements 4' leading from the bottom portionsof at least one element of each pair to the mixing well for conducting the mix in each pair to the mixing well; water jetting means directed along the lower portion of certain hopper elements forv supplying water to the free owing material in the hopper and moving the rriix from the hopper elements tio the mixing well through,` the connecting and feeding ucts.

3. In a sandv carrying ship; a hopper having a bottom comprising at least four pairs of adjoining, free flowing materiall collecting hopper elements occupying substantially the entire bottom of the hopper, each element having surrounding side walls sloping toward the bottom of the hopper elements; a connecting-duct for each pair of elements, said duct cutting throughl adjacent sloping side walls of each pair of elements to provide a path substantially'alignedwithv the bottoms 'o'f the hopper elements for` conducting al of' waterjand tree' flowing material between the' elements' of each pair; a mixing well located substantially in the center of the bottom of the'hopp'er, said well being'provide'd with meansfor supplying water to the mix to' condition` it for dischargev and a passage for 'conducting th'e conditioned mix away from the well; a feeding duct for each pair of' hopper elements cutting through the-sloping side walls' of at least one' of the hopperH elements of each pair and leading to the mixing wellfor conducting. the mix in each pair of elements to the'mixing well; w'ater jetting means directed along the lower portion of certain hopper elemen'ts'nof each pair for supplying water to the free owing materialin the'hopp'er` and moving the mix with the aid lof gravity ow' from the hopper element to the mixing well through the connectir'iga'nd feeding ducts.

4. yIn a sand carrying ship, a hopper capable of being substantially'emptied ofall freel owing material contained therein, saidhopp'.er having a bottom comprising at least e1ght adjoinin'g,` material collecting hopper elements'occupying substantially the entire bottom of the hopper', each quadrantofthe bottom being composed of a pair ofthe elements, a feeding. element being adjacent ltheV centerof the bottom and a remote element occupyingv a position removed from the center and adjacent the feeding element; a separate connecting duct for each pair of elements substantially aligned with the bottoni of the elements and connecting the remote and feeding elements for conducting a mixof Water and free flowing material between the elements of each pair; a mixingwelllocated substantially in the center of the hopper bottom, said well being provided with means for supplying water to the mix to condition it forl discharge and a passage leading from the well to a discharge pump; a discharge pump; a separate feedingY duct for each pair ofv elements'` leading from. the bottom-portion of each feeding element to the mixing well for conducting the mix to the well; and'v separate waterV jets for atleast each pair of elements directed along the lower portion ofy each `remote elementin a direction so as to move the mix with the aid of gravity flow from the remote element through the connecting duct tothey feeding element and'through theffeedingdduct to each pair to the well.

5. Apparatus' asspeciied in` claim; 4wherein each hopper element has surrounding side zwalls sloping toward the bottom and' disposed at an angle' from the horizontal which is at least slightly greater than the angle' of repose of the wetfreef owing material to be emptied from the hopper.

6. Therapparatus as specified" in-fclaim 5 wherein the slopingside walls of the hopper are disposed at an angle from the horizontal which is atleast slightly greater than the angle of repose of. wet, free owing material to be emptied fromthe hopper.

Referenc'es'Cited in the le' of this'patentl UNITED STATES PATENTS Numbery j Name Date 625,327' Edwards May 23, 1899 1,084,889 Mackie Jan. 20,1914 1,127,137 West Feb.- 2, 1915 1,737,341 Sensibar Nov. 26,1929

FOREIGN PATENTS Number n, Country ,j Date y 16,712 Great lBritain Iuly17,v 1912 

